Is it just another flare-up over the Temple Mount or... a cunning ploy by Sharon to lean on the next conclave? In other words, "Get our man (Mgr Lustiger) to sit on St Peter's throne or else...."
Security is tightened at Jerusalem holy site
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 9, 2005
Israel fears protests may spark trouble
JERUSALEM Israeli security officials tightened access to a disputed holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday, wary of Jewish extremists trying to inflame tensions with Arabs in an effort to sabotage Israel's planned Gaza Strip withdrawal.
Jews opposed to the withdrawal want to rally Sunday at the site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif. Their plans have set both the Israeli police and Palestinians on edge.
About 40,000 Hamas supporters from the northern Gaza Strip marched after Friday prayers to protest the planned Jewish rally and warned of an immediate resumption of violence if it went ahead.
Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups agreed to a temporary cease-fire during a March meeting in Cairo with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
"They will not be able to storm Al Aqsa Mosque, God willing, but if they do, all that has happened during the so-called quietness will disappear in the wind," said Nizar Rayan, a Hamas official. "We will move with our rockets and our mujahadeen in order to defend Al Aqsa and to protect it. Not only Hamas but all the Palestinians and Muslims."
In the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp, about 1,200 masked and armed Islamic Jihad members marched, also threatening war.
On Friday, only Muslim men aged 40 and older with Israeli identity cards, and Muslim women of all ages were allowed to worship at the hilltop shrine. Thousands of police officers were assigned to guard the site, said a Jerusalem police spokesman, Shmuel Ben-Ruby.
Jewish presence at the site, a mosque compound built atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples, has been strictly limited since Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.
Considered as the most sacred spot in Judaism, the compound is also one of the holiest sites in Islam.
Muslim leaders had said they would bring thousands of worshipers to the area, causing fears that confrontations between Muslims and Jews could erupt near the shrine. But the afternoon prayer, which drew about 10,000 worshippers, concluded without incident.
Security officials, worried that Jewish extremists would try to cause an incident at the shrine to block the withdrawal, have banned pullout opponents from rallying there Sunday, for fear it would set off Israeli-Palestinian clashes. But rally organizers say they will hold the gathering nearby.
Uri Ariel, a righist lawmaker, said the police rejected his request to go to the Temple Mount on Sunday.
Asked if he would go without approval, Ariel replied: "We haven't decided at this point to fight with police. We think the Temple Mount should be open to Jews, and that there shouldn't be this disgraceful situation where only Arabs who threaten police and the state of Israel can go there."
Abbas said Friday that his government had been in contact with the Israeli defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, about the rally.
"We have a pledge from the Israelis that they will prevent any aggression on Al Aqsa Mosque, and we hope so," Abbas said.
iht.com |
